By: Preschool Teachers
Physical activity is one of the best things people can do to improve their health. For children and teens to grow up healthy, they must be physically active and eat healthy foods every day. Helping children to develop habits that will last a lifetime, an active, healthy lifestyle must start early in life. Teaching physical activity to children has many benefits, such as keep their heart and lungs strong and healthy, become more flexible, develop strong bones, keep healthy body weight, lower the risk of several diseases and health problems, and improve their mood and self-esteem. Physical Education (P.E.) also develops children’s competence and confidence to take part in a range of physical activities that become a central part of their lives, both in and out of school.
During online school, Metta Preschool 1 students keep doing Physical education subject virtually. At this age, fundamental movements should be linked into play to keep everything fun. Play with the balls is one of the P.E. activities that Preschool 1 has during the class. Here, throwing and catching the ball are important to be learned.
Importance of Catching:
- Assists in the development of hand-eye coordination.
- Functional use of multiple joint segments improves control over the segments.
- Learning how to absorb the catch increases joint stability and full-body control.
- Positioning for the catch creates fundamental communication between all body segments and increases the overall tone of postural muscles.
Importance of Throwing:
- Assists in the coordinated and functional use of the entire upper extremities.
- Provides proprioceptive information to joint receptors, thereby improving overall body awareness.
- Throwing is a full-body exercise and therefore pulls in both sides of the body to work bilateral coordination.
In conclusion, playing with balls makes the physical activity fun and they will notice their skills improving. This helps children understand that they can learn and get better at something if they try, and builds self-esteem and confidence. Playing with balls with children is also a great way to spend quality time together and build a relationship.
Source:
https://www.onekidsplace.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/INTRODUCTION-Catching-Throwing-and-Kicking.pdf
https://www.caringforkids.cps.ca/handouts/healthy-living/physical_activity
https://raisingchildren.net.au/guides/activity-guides/playing-with-balls-activity
